IN NUVO

I can almost hear the clatter of hooves against the cobblestones as my ride pulls into the grand courtyard of the Waldorf Astoria Chicago (formerly the Elysian Hotel). It’s only my imagination, though, as I’m in one of the hotel’s Lexus town cars and not a horse-drawn carriage, but such is the evocative nature of the hotel’s grand design.

Dressed as he is this afternoon in jeans and a black T-shirt, chef Danny Grant looks more like a college freshman than the man responsible for running a two-star Michelin restaurant. He’s not in his chef’s whites this morning because we’re at the Green City Market, one of Chicago’s best farmers’ markets.